My Friday Five: On Insensitive Comments, U.S. Open & An Anniversary

My Friday Five: On Insensitive Comments, U.S. Open & An Anniversary

1. Steve Harvey

Comedian/host, Steve Harvey, went too far with some comments he made on his radio show this week. According to HuffPost, a man who said he was from Flint, Mich. called into Harvey’s radio show to talk smack about the Cleveland Cavaliers losing to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. The caller reportedly said that Cleveland “didn’t deserve jack” and Harvey, who’s a Cavs fan, didn’t like it too much.

Comedian/host, Steve Harvey, went too far with some comments he made on his radio show this week. According to HuffPost, a man who said he was from Flint, Mich. called into Harvey’s radio show to talk smack about the Cleveland Cavaliers losing to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. The caller reportedly said that Cleveland “didn’t deserve jack” and Harvey, who’s a Cavs fan, didn’t like it too much. HuffPost cited Detroit Free Press and MLive as reporting that Harvey made jokes about the water crisis in Flint and about the man not having clean water. According to these sources, Harvey went in for one final jab as the caller was hanging up, adding “Enjoy your nice brown glass of water.” This comes as Uproxx reports that officials were charged with involuntary manslaughter after their handling of the crisis resulted in 12 deaths. Harvey released a statement in an effort to give rationale for what he said, stating that the city of Flint meant a lot to him and what he said wasn’t taken in the proper context.

Are you kidding me? Comedian or not, Harvey’s words were distatestful and completely insensitive. My thing is, why are you saying stuff like this anyway, especially when it deals with a very important topic? It absolutely boggles my mind. It also boggles my mind that, among the many who derided Harvey for his comments, some said to “Get over it. It’s just a joke.” Tell that to the people of Flint who have been affected by this crisis. Tell that to the families of the people who died because of contaminated water. Go ahead, I dare you. What Steve Harvey said crossed a line. Period. I will not be supporting any of his current or future projects or endeavors.

2. It’s Official

The inevitable has happened: EA Sports and 2K Games are done making games for Xbox 360 and PS3. This can be concluded based on the gaming companies’ recent announcements for Madden 18, FIFA 18 and NBA 2K18. When you go to pre-order the games on EA’s or 2K’s respective websites, the only platforms you can choose from are Xbox One, PS4 Nintendo Switch and/or PC. The companies continued making similar versions of these games for older models in recent years, even after the PS4 and Xbox One systems were released. Albeit, those versions skimped on a lot of great features.

I guess you can say I’m pretty bitter about this. Mainly because I still have an Xbox 360 that’s not even that old and works like a charm. I still play NCAA Football and Basketball (remember those?) and have absolutely no desire to purchase any of the new systems. Especially given the fact those systems are still starting at $250-300, not counting at least another $60 a pop for the games. I’m sure these “latest” gaming systems will become obsolete in another year or two as well and these gaming companies will, in my opinion, turn their backs on gamers who hold on to those systems just like they’re doing to us Xbox 360 and PS3 owners.

3. U.S. Open

It’s that time of year again: U.S. Open time! The major tournament began Thursday at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. The highlight of the day, for me, was seeing Rickie Fowler post an opening round -7 (65), his career lowest round in a major. With that mark, Fowler also tied a record – set by only Jack Nicklas and Tom Weiskopf – for the lowest opening round in a U.S. Open in relation to par, according to the PGA Tour.

The U.S. Open happening this week also brings back memories of my experience at the tournament when it was played in Pinehurst in 2014. It’s hard to believe that that was three years ago. I’d watched golf for a long time but had never attended an event. Championship Sunday of that year’s event was my first ever in-person pro golf experience. Not bad, eh? Check out a post from my Instagram on the experience at Pinehurst below.

Twitter released a pretty big aesthetic update on Thursday. The social media platform made a host of changes to its design and the reaction from users has been mixed, at best. I, personally, don’t like how the “Profile” icon is on a sidebar now. Muscle memory has me continually clicking on the icon to the far right of the screen, where the “Profile” icon’s traditional spot. With #NewTwitter, that now opens up my “Messages” section. I guess I’ll just have to get use to it. Beyond that, users – including yours truly – are still asking Twitter when an edit feature will be added to tweets. If you use Twitter, you’ve probably made a typo – or a million. I know I have. It would be so nice for an edit feature to be incorporated but, for now, Twitter users will continue to wait for it…